Tuesday, May 26, 2009

I made a *darn* good chili last week, if I do say so myself (and I do. So does the rest of the family, including my parents). I had a few sweet potatoes left in the house and I desperately wanted to make up for the absolute fiasco that took place when I threw together that icky chicken and sweet potato I-don't-know-what-I-was-thinking dish.

Use a 5-6 quart slow cooker. This is enough food to feed a family of 4 regular-sized, or 6 smallish people. Peel and chunk the sweet potato and add to the pot. Add diced onion. Follow with the red bell pepper, can of tomatoes, the beans, garlic, and seasonings. Pour in OJ and water. Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours, or until the onion is translucent and the sweet potato is fork-tender (if you want the sweet potato to get really squishy and disappear when stirred, cook longer).

The Verdict.

Super tasty. I loved the sweet smoky flavor this had, and was thrilled at the depth of flavor that came from this spice combination. The sweet potato and beans were plenty filling, and Adam didn't once mumble that he'd really like a steak. My kids ate it, but un-veganized it by adding shredded cheese and sour cream.I will definitely make this again. Thank you so much to BlogHer and to Tropicana for the fun day of filming for The Juice production. I had an absolute ball, and am touched to have been included. Thank you.

67 comments:

That actually sounds good. Part of me wants to try it, but mention anything remotely vegetarian in nature and my husband flips his lid. Every once in awhile I manage to sneak one in... but I'm not sure he'd go for this. But it sounds so good... lol

Sounds good and I think I have everything to make it tomorrow! I tried to make a chili today but forgot to turn on the crock and it sat on my counter for at least 3 hours before I realized my mistake. :( Wasn't worth the risk of food poisoning to eat it, even tho everything was already "cooked." Biggest bummer was then trying to figure out what to make for dinner!

I'm fairly sure that tinned kidney beans are already cooked. If the tin doesn't give instructions warning you to cook them carefully, you should be able to eat them straight from the tin. (This is definitely the case in Ireland). It's the raw ones you need to be careful of.

I make a similar chili in the crockpot with black beans and butternut squash, and it's always a huge hit. If I make chili for a party, I'll usually make a traditional chili with meat and the vegan bean and squash chili, and the vegan one always gets gobbled up first!

My version used berbere, an Ethiopian spice blend with hot and smoky flavors. There's also a sweet aroma to it... adding a pinch of cinnamon to the spices on your list would give it a similar depth.

Wanted to say that I made this today and it's YUMMY! I didn't have the chipotle chili powder, so I just omitted it; also didn't have OJ on hand. I thought it was really good, as did my husband, but my girls (aged 1 and 3) only ate the kidney beans, even tho they usually love sweet potatoes. I'm thinking it was the little hint of chili powder. Also, I turned it off after 6 hours - probably would have been better after 5 hours as my sweet potatoes got pretty squishy (but still mostly held their form). I might have liked them a little more firm.

I was just wondering if you have ever made yogurt in your crockpot and if so, could you please link me? I made your granola recipe and I will NEVER burn it in the oven again. Wow, how cool is that?. I love crockpotting and your recipes are inspiring.

The video was great, Stephanie! You rocked! It was so neat to see you on the header, too, before I clicked on the video. Are you going to the BlogHer Food conference in San Francisco? I got my ticket last week and they're sold out now.

The recipe sounds wonderful to me, but I know hubby wouldn't eat it ... he doesn't do sweet potatoes. This will have to be another one I try on the support group folks. ;-) They're happy willing guinea pigs for all your recipes!

snuck this is on my husband and he did not even realize there was not any meat in it. we live in mexico and believe it or not, i could not find chipotle poweder. substituted the 1 cup water with 1/4 cup water and 3/4 cup chipotle salsa (easy to find!)

That looks awesome...I love your recipes!!! I have a large crockpot for roasts, etc. I want to start using crockpot recipes to make candy and chocolates. What size would you recommend? Or does it matter what size?

Stephanie, this sweet potato thing was really good, sprinkled with a bit of trader joes lowfat shredded cheese, and a piece of whole grain bread on the side. Used plain paprika, plain chili powder, just a little cumin. B.F. ate it for lunch 2 days later!

OK I tried this last night. Excellent that it is fat free and taste was ok but I'd change a bit for next time. First the instructions don't say when you added the beans, but if I made something like this again I would put onions, capsicum, garlic on the bottom; then the sweet potato then the beans and other ingredients. I like my onion well cooked. Might be my cooker too I suppose. I'd add more spices too - like cummin as someone else suggested. Best thing about this recipe is the great idea of adding sweet potato to your favourite chilli recipe I reckon. Thanks for a very funny and imaginative site.

Wasn't sure where to leave a comment for you...I have discovered the most awesomist can opener ever. I hope Santa brings you one for Christmas to help you open up all those cans o' beans! Best thing, it doesn't leave sharp edges, so the kiddos can help you open up cans!! Check it outhttp://www.cooking.com/products/shprodde.asp?SKU=185688

It's a Rosle can opener. If you want to see how it works go to YouTube and search for it.

Made this last night. Overall it was awesome. However I did add about a tablespoon of sugar. It gave it a sweetness I found went well with the smokey chipotle flavours. I also found it very soupy. The solution to that is to cook it 8 hours or more (I cooked mine 8 hours, but then let it sit on the keep-warm setting for another 3). Then when it's done, mash up some of the sweet potatoes and stir it up. It becomes rich and thick, and there are still chunks of sweet potato floating around. Served this with garlic bread and it was the perfect comfort food.

This Chili is amazing and no meal! The meat eaters will be really surprised as you really don't notice there is no meat. I had a friend try this, had them close their eyes, so they wouldn't notice there was no meat. They loved it!

I've made this twice, and I wonder if I'm doing something wrong... it is crazy HOT! And I live in the South and we do a LOT of Tex-Mex down here, so I'm used to hot.

I suspect maybe there's a difference between "chipotle chili powder" and "ground chipotle" (which is what I have)--does anyone know? If there is a difference, does anyone know how to mix ground chipotle with regular chili powder in the right proportions?

I really like the flavors of this recipe, so I hope I can work it out!

Made this with hard kidney beans and gigantic sweet potatoes. De-lish-ous. I replaced the chipotle chili powder with some cajun seasoning. Used regular instead of smoked paprika. I did not get the smoky flavor which I think would have been good. Anyway, it was really excellent, and guest worthy.

This was part of my great freezer defrost and I was a little bummed because we just had chili last week. But. This was awesome! And while my husband de-veganized it in a hurry, it was terrific, and we will definitely have this again. Thanks!

I made this last night and it was fantastic. My "where is the meat" husband was sated after it and confirmed that he would eat it again. My 15 month old and I ate left over sweet potato for lunch today and it was just as nice. A definite hit!

Trying this one for dinner tonight even though it's not the slightest bit cold outside. LOL I needed to use up some sweet potatoes that will sprout soon. I'm using Hunt's Fire Roasted diced tomatoes...had them in the pantry and was struggling with what to do with them. This sounds perfect!

This recipe was incredible. A couple of changes I made that really put it over the top: No extra salt added, the tomatoes add enough. A 1/2 tsp of cumin, an extra garlic clove and a pinch of ground coriander really added incredible flavor.

I made this last night for my women’s meet up group, They loved it!! I didn’t want to buy all the spices separately so I just threw in a chili spice packet, it was delicious.. defiantly making it again! I love Sweet Potatoes

I was asked two days before the event to take a chili to a cookoff for a work event...I'm vegan so I goodled for a quick crockpot recipe and found yours. It turned out to be the only nonmeat chili at the event so the vegetarians really appreciated it but the meat eaters also liked it a lot. I even got a little trophy for best vegetarian chili! Thanks for the great recipe...I handed it out with your website on it so hopefully some of the people who attended will check your site out. :0) leslie

Very nice! The first day was quite tasty. Working now on first leftover container of Sweet Potato Chili over brown rice. This recipe definitely works for me. I suspect it would work over pasta, maybe elbows, just as nicely.

This is one of my favorite things to cook in the slow cooker. When I first made it, I found it to be really bland and didn't like the consistency of the sweet potatoes after I followed the recipe exactly. So I doubled the spices (maybe mine were old) and cooked it longer, so the sweet potatoes became mushier. It was so good! Now I make a big batch (i have a larger slow cooker): more sweet potatoes, the can of kidney beans plus a can each of rinsed black beans and garbanzo beans. Sometimes I'll also chop up some carrots too. And quadruple the spices. :) I made them recently for my son's first birthday, served over chips by Food Should Taste Good (gluten free and delicious) as nachos; people added shredded chedder, Mexican blend, or parmesan cheese. They were a hit! Thanks so much for this recipe!

Maybe I did something wrong, but this did not turn out good for my family. The 1 year old loved it, so it will be his lunch all week long. The rest of the family? Not so much. The onions weren't all the way cooked and that made the flavor too strong. Maybe if I cooked them a bit first before adding them to the pot it would have been better. I think I might adjust the spices a little bit, too. I like the idea of adding coriander and cumin. Maybe I'll make that again with those additions to the batch. The flavors, to me, were just a little bit strange.

Made this tonight for my family and company. It was a big hit with everyone - even the kids and DH (who doesn't care for sweet potatoes). I doubled the recipe and used my 6 qt. I omitted the water (but used the OJ). DIdn't have the chipotle chili powder, so just used extra regular. Big thumbsup!

I am doing something different with it; I have cut up a HUGE sweet potato AND a red and orange bell pepper, added onion powder, sea salt, cayenne pepper, and a little chili flakes to it. Tomorrow morning, I am going to add the black beans, 1.5 cups of water (since I have no oj) and fire roasted tomatoes (2 cans). Then I will put it on low (since I will be gone for about 10-11 hours). Should be delicious!!

I made this with two cans of fire-roasted tomatoes, 2 chopped Anaheim (mild) chilis, 2 sweet bell peppers, and 3 large sweet potatoes. It still didn't fill my 6.5 qt slow cooker. Delicious, but the beans were mushy after 8 hrs. Next time I'll make it as written in my 3 qt, or increase the volume even more. (I also added some brown sugar since I subbed water for OJ.)

Started the process of cooking the chilli yesterday night. I did not have the Chipotle Chilli Powder or the Paprika, but I added a chipotle chilli in Adobo sauce. When I woke up today morning the chilli was ready :) The chilli tastes amazing.